To mirror the last COS post regarding the French sub-game of The ’45, let’s look at a larger scale, and arguably much more important sub-game for the Austrians, pitting them against the French to Regain the Crown of the Holy Roman Empire (See the Track below). The French gain the Crown by taking cities in the Empire and Danube valley, and playing a dependent Diplomacy event. The Austrians can get it back by progress in the war (for starters, taking large chunks of Bavaria), waiting for Charles VII to die (trust me, he will 🙂 ) and playing generic Regaining the Crown event cards as successive track conditions (progress) are met.

Why the French Should Want It – and Why the Austrians Should Want It Back: 

Short answer(s) – VPs, early and late!  🙂

French Incentive:

The French want it because when their Bavarian puppet Charles VII is crowned, they enjoy a VP and Monarchial Will (MW) boost, while slamming the Austrians and Brits for MW and VP hits. But to crown Charles, they need to achieve a few more goals (see the card), and the Danube valley is the place where they’re going to acquire some necessary cities and VPs, so there’s a built-in incentive to do this. And, after the crowning, they get a VP at end of each winter they can hang on to it, for icing on the HRE cake. There is also a yet more powerful short term goal  – to add these VPs to what is often a French 1741-43 blitzkrieg, in hopes of a Bourbon Automatic Win, with chances enhanced by holding the Crown. The Auto Win number varies – it’s 26 VPs normally, but only 23 VPs if they hit that number while Bavarian Charles is on the HRE throne. 

Austrian Incentive: 

Maria T wants those geographic VPs back, for sure. And if the Austrians are expeditious in getting that territory and the crown back, they will usually achieve a net VP gain out of it versus the French tally. 

Early on, I had specific cards that enacted the events on the track, but found that luck of the draws made it very difficult for the Austrians to achieve the historical sequence of activities. So I made the design decision to convert the events into a track, and coin generic Regain the Crown cards. This gives the Austrian player the flexibility to play any of them to progress on the track, vice having to hold (or never get) what was formerly a specific card for each track event.

But playing RTC cards are not a complete no-brainer either – let’s note that most of them are 5 CP cards; the Austrians can do a lot of campaigning by playing these to activate their troops, so you’ll have to weigh the on-map situations accordingly. 

Obstacles to Getting It, and Getting It Back

To the French: 

Barring very bad dice luck, and/or unfocused French and brilliant Austrian defensive play, the French player can reasonably expect to get the required geographic objectives to play his Dip triumph card. But it’s not a given. Yes, the Austrians are going to be hard-pressed by the Prussians in ‘41-42, easing the French road down the valley. But the closer the French get to Passau, the more opportunities an adept Austrian player has to slow and foul things up, particularly with Austrian Croat/Hussar Markers. These slow enemy movement, can cut supply lines, and put French forces in Short Supply situations, hampering them in fighting any required battles.  So the French player should be rooting loudly and often for the Prussians to be pressing Austrian throats at Prague, or even pushing for Vienna! He may not get there, but you only have to get to Passau! 🙂

To the Austrians:

An Austrian player who gets in alliance with Piedmont (HINT – duh, you’d better make sure you play Turin, and the Brits play Worms!) will usually get the upper hand in Italy by ’44, and even by ’43. The French player will have to start diverting his attention and resources there, which should thin out the south Empire and Bavarian theater. But unfortunately, this is also around the same time a competent French player will be using and promoting De Saxe into his 900 lb Gorilla mode, and he will usually dominate in Flanders. 4-4-9 rating De Saxe in charge versus less than stellar play by your usually meager Austrian forces and the Brit player’s armies in that theater may allow the French player to keep a decent leader and middling 10-20 point army contesting the Danube valley and Bavarian cities. 

At that point, you have to weigh your priorities – decisions, decisions :), but I might suggest that pushing in Italy can usually wait until later in the game (‘46-47); the Aus have to make progress on the RTC track to get the French off the Winter VP bandwagon. It is a tough choice, for the player who has the toughest role in Clash of Sovereigns! Vieles gluck, Maria! 🙂

REGAINING THE CROWN TRACK

---

Previous Austrian Strategy Article: Enemies North, West, and South: Playing Maria Theresa in Clash of Sovereigns